


Hidden Talents

by Cenobia100



Series: Salermelons, Davocados & Ormangos, oh my! [4]
Category: Password (Visual Novel)
Genre: M/M, Sal said he liked Tetris, but this is fanfiction and it's for the fun, he may not be a T Spin god in canon, ot3 right here, so naturally he must be tested in the ancient battle arena of Tetris 99
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 00:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19982881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cenobia100/pseuds/Cenobia100
Summary: “Sal, are you sure this is how you play Tetris?” Dave couldn’t help but chirp up.“The point is to clear the lines, Sal,” Orlando said, ever so smugly.But the pair of them froze as Sal turned to them, an ever so slight smile gracing it’s way onto his snout.During a hot day at the Mansion, everyone is forced to stay inside to beat the heat, with Dave and Orlando having a gamer day, joined by an unlikely guest. How will Sal debut in Tetris 99?





	Hidden Talents

The heat was unbearable that morning as Dave peeled himself out of his chair at breakfast – Roswell had warned the group that there’d be a heatwave coming for the next few days and it’d be best to stay indoors, which meant the back garden was off-limits. For Dave, that wasn’t much of an issue. He could find something to do.

Though for Sal, well…

As Dave walked out of the dining hall, bidding a wave to Dean who was going to make a run for the greenhouse, he noticed that a rather large figure was standing by the back door, watching as Dean rushed on by towards the greenhouse.

“Sal?” Dave called out, walking over to where the crocodile was standing, glancing up at him to see that his eyes were trained on the outside. “Are you okay?”

“Couldn’t swim this morning,” Sal muttered back, a dejected grumble compared to his usual tone.

And Dave honestly couldn’t help but find the big guy’s situation somewhat hilarious, if a little adorable as well. “You uh, you don’t have to swim every day, y’know,” Dave pointed out.

Sal glanced down at Dave, an irritated scowl plastered on his face. “I like the pool.”

“Well, maybe you can like something else for the day?” Dave recommended, turning to walk back towards the main hall. “Just… Don’t stand there all day. It’s a bit weird.”

Sal only replied with an incomprehensible mumble, folding his arms as he continued to stare out of the window with those eyes longing for the pool.

After his brief conversation with Sal, Dave decided it would probably best to do something that didn’t make him want to melt, especially with how hot it was, so going to the Gym was out of the question. No doubt Roswell would be scouring the Museum again, but he didn’t feel like reading.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice the rather large yellow dragon standing in front of him.

“Dave, are you alright?” He heard Orlando ask, the Hyena almost jumping in surprise as said yellow dragon was waving a hand in front of his face. “Hello, earth to Dave? You in there?”

“S-Sorry,” Dave stammered, nervously laughing as he reoriented himself.

Somehow he’d found himself standing outside of the Rec Room, having walked up a flight of stairs and down the hall without realizing. He could feel his cheeks beginning to flush from behind his fur, bashfully looking away from Orlando, who was watching Dave with his usual grin.

“You look like you’ve got nothing to do,” Orlando said once Dave was somewhat calm.

“Well, can’t go outside, I guess maybe I’ll go hang out in the Rec Room, I’m here now,” Dave said, walking around Orlando to enter the comfortable casino-looking room.

“You can play video games with me then! Though maybe not that cooking game,” Orlando grimaced as he rushed by Dave to plop himself in one of the many beanbags, settling for a rather dark purple one. “Last time we played that, you got a little flustered.”

Dave couldn’t help the roll of his eyes at that, huffing, “I could totally do better now.”

“Sure Dave, sure.”

The Hyena plodded over to a nice green beanbag, slouching into it and letting himself melt into the fabric. For whatever reason, it was oddly cool in the Rec Room, so he allowed himself a chance to relax, while Orlando was scrolling through the games on the console.

Though right as Orlando was about to pick a game for them to play, the pair heard the sound of a door creaking open, Dave’s eyes shooting over to the doorway, where both of them were surprised to see a rather deflated looking Sal.

“Oh, hey Sal!” Orlando called out with a cheery wave. “You come to join us in our gaming session? I didn’t think you were much of a gamer!”

The croc silently marched over to the pair, giving them a nod as he sat down on a bright yellow beanbag, before grumbling, “Had nothing else to do. Figured I’d follow Dave.”

“You could have just come with me in the first place instead of following me Sal,” Dave pointed out.

“...”

“You were actually considering going out in that heatwave before you followed me, oh my god,” Dave muttered silently.

“How about Sal picks the game then?” Orlando interrupted, passing the controller over to their crocodile friend, who glanced down at it, then up to the screen. “What games do you like, Sal?”

The crocodile glanced over at Dave. “You remember?” He asked, almost as if he were testing the Hyena.

“Well uh… Tetris, right? Or puzzle games and stuff?”

Sal nodded, Orlando glancing up at the croc with an odd expression.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Sal but I did not peg you as a puzzle kind of guy,” Orlando said with an odd smile.

Sal only muttered a quiet, “I like the flashing colours...” Getting a chuckle of laughter out of the dragon, though Dave just watched them with vague interest, eyes glued to the game of Tetris that Sal had started booting up.

“Tetris 99, huh?” Dave muttered aloud.

“Are you sure you can handle this, Sal? I’ve played this game tons of times and, well, you’re against 99 other people.”

Sal didn’t reply, instead giving a low grunt before pressing the play button.

Three, two one, and the game was in session.

Dave couldn’t see he had a major fascination with Tetris – It was one of the most well-known games of all time, but he wasn’t much of a puzzle fan. He got the basic concepts though, well enough to know that lining up blocks was usually a great idea and clearing the board was great too.

But as the game progressed, he and Orlando were sharing wary glances. Sal had begun to build up a rather large wall of Tetrominoes on the west side of his grid, but there were rather odd holes that he was leaving in the eastern side of the grid that just didn’t make sense.

“Sal, are you sure this is how you play Tetris?” Dave couldn’t help but chirp up.

“The point is to clear the lines, Sal,” Orlando said, ever so smugly.

But the pair of them froze as Sal turned to them, an ever so slight smile gracing its way onto his snout.

Feeling an odd surge of tension in the room, Dave snapped his head back to the board, where Sal had one of the purple T pieces stockpiled to the left, as well as one he was bringing down to the board. And he was aiming it towards the oddly placed holes in the matrix.

“Wait a minute-” He heard Orlando mutter, as if something had clicked in the dragon’s brain. “Sal you’re...”

And suddenly, the T block was sliding through the various holes on the matrix, in a way that Dave didn’t think was at all possible. It hit the bottom of the board and various blocks were suddenly wiped out, a loud T-Spin Triple announced by the game.

And it just so happened that Sal was being targeted by tons of players at that moment, so the garbage he sent their way was monumental. The sudden sound of players losing and the sweet sounds of Sal collecting their badges was like music to the ears of the three gamers.

But before Orlando and Dave could congratulate him on that move, Sal brought out the T block that he had been holding onto and the sounds of T-Spin Triple once again filled the room.

“That was amazing,” Dave muttered, completely in shock. How on earth had Sal done that?

“You’ve got this Sal!” Orlando cheered, the pair noticing Sal’s smile beginning to grow ever so slightly. It seemed they’d manage to get the croc sucked into the game for the time being.

Though they were invested too – Was Sal going to win? He was already in the top twenty-five, the music was speeding up, but suddenly a large wave of garbage came from an opposing player, filling the board and reducing Sal’s playing space.

The Tetrominoes were dropping faster and faster, Sal breaking blocks in a fervent desire to stay in the game, the croc completely focused, the other two enraptured by his gameplay. Final fifteen, final fourteen, was Sal going to break the top ten?

Who knew that the stacking and clearing of bricks could be so much fun?

Dave had to wonder if this was part of why Sal loved these types of games, the rush, the adrenaline, the excitement, the music.

“Top ten...” They heard Sal mutter, voice calm, steely gaze on the projector screen.

And then another three lines cleared, top nine, eight, seven, six, five, Sal was going for this! He didn’t even need a warm-up, he was ready!

“Come on, Top three, you got this!” Orlando cheered fervently.

And then suddenly three sets of garbage smashed into the screen, all the other players targeting Sal. And then the defeat music was playing, Dave and Orlando leaning back, faces plastered with dismay.

Sal though, Sal was still glaring at the screen, until Dave muttered a, “T-That was great Sal!”

The croc, seemingly broken out of his trance with the game, turned to them, his gaze softening for a moment as he saw the excitement in their eyes. “Seriously Sal, you’ve got some crazy skills. You totally should have won that,” Orlando explained with his usual grin.

And though Sal was a stoic and unreadable croc, both Dave and Orlando could tell that the praise was getting through to him, the croc looking away from them awkwardly. “It was just a game...”

“That you were super good at,” Orlando supplied eagerly. “And you hid these intense Tetris skills from me?”

“I didn’t think they were anything special...” Sal admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, eyes on the ground, embarrassed.

Rather than shout about Sal’s greatness, Dave opted instead to reply, “That was really good. I’m glad you came to play with us,” giving Sal a contented smile as he did so.

“I still want to go swimming though,” Sal mumbled, though the hard edge to his voice was all but gone.

“Maybe this evening, I’ll go for a dip in the pool then,” Dave announced, Sal’s eyes lighting up at the announcement. “But for now, we game!”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find the current build of Password over on itchio - https://passwordvn.itch.io/password
> 
> The moment I saw he liked Tetris, I had to do this. He probably isn't actually this good at Tetris in canon, but this is fanfiction damnit!
> 
> (Sorry if my Orlando may be a bit OOC, still trying to figure out his speech).


End file.
